Barker Road Methodist Church (BRMC) is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

located at 48 Barker Road along Dunearn Road, and is colocated with

Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) is a government-aided boys' secondary school located at Barker Road in Newton, Singapore. It is a member of the Anglo-Chinese family of schools in Singapore. It offers the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level ...

and

Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) This is a list of primary schools in Singapore. Children typically start their primary education in the year they turn seven. Primary education lasts six years, and is compulsory for all Singapore citizens. Primary schools in Singapore are clas ...

History

BRMC was originally known as the Barker Road Chapel, and had its beginnings in 1956. It was later recognised as a Methodist church on 26 May 1957 with 12 registered members who were mainly

Anglo-Chinese School Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) is a family of Methodist schools in Singapore and Indonesia. It was founded in 1886 by Bishop William Fitzjames Oldham as an extension of the Methodist Church. Anglo-Chinese School is usually abbreviated as "ACS", wit ...

boys. In 2023, membership of the Church stands at 3,150. BRMC is associated with the revival of Christian emphasis in the

in the 1950s, and again in ACS Clock Tower Charismatic revival in 1972, when it hosted

boys in the Church Sanctuary. Several participants in the revival later served as pastors in the Church. The Church was one of the founding members of the

National Council of Churches of Singapore The National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) is an ecumenical fellowship of Churches and Christian organisations in Singapore. This duty was initially carried out by the Malayan Christian Council which was then succeeded by the Council o ...

Church Buildings

The first purpose-built building was completed in 1963, and was dedicated by Bishop F. Lundy in 31 October 1965. It was demolished in 1987 and a new and much larger Sanctuary was built. This was completed in 1991. It was then renovated in 1999 when the entire Barker Road campus comprising the school and Oldham hall were redeveloped. The newly renovated Sanctuary was completed in 2002, and form an integral part of the campus. The new Sanctuary, although not architecturally significant, is large and seats a congregation of several hundred. It is a simple rectangular building surmounted a large tiled hipped roof. The interior is plain and utilitarian space, without any features of note, lit by plain fluorescent tubes. There is a small, simple stained glass window at the liturgical east end, re-used from the earlier building. The church has a large 4-manual digital organ by Allen Organs. There is a diminutive bell turret on the exterior, containing 5 bells, presented to the church by the 12th Singapore Company of the Boys' Brigade.

Church Planting

In October 1993, the Church, together with Wesley Methodist Church launched a church-planting project at the

Methodist Girls' School Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

with the opening of a preaching point. It was later constituted as Covenant Community Methodist Church in September 1994. A similar preaching point was established at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) in 1998 in partnership with Wesley Methodist Church an
Aldersgate Methodist Church
and was later constituted a
Living Waters Methodist Church
in April 2003. In July 2007, BRMC opened a preaching point at Anglo-Chinese School (International). This preaching point was later constituted as Holland Village Methodist Church in 2012. BRMC runs Oasis BRMC Mission @Bukit Batok, which serves the community through programmes for the disadvantaged and holds English and Mandarin worship services on Sundays.

Affiliated Organizations

BRMC also looks after the spiritual well-being of the following schools under the

umbrella *

* Anglo-Chinese School Oldham Hall * The

Boys' Brigade in Singapore The Boys' Brigade in Singapore is a youth uniformed group organisation and part of the global Boys' Brigade movement which has been present in Singapore since 1930. It currently consists of over 700 officers and 6,300 Boys in over 116 companies ...

12th Company It also hosts Barker Road Methodist Church Kindergarten, which was rebranded as BRMC Little Lights Preschool on 11 Oct 2021. In 2001, the Church jointly started what was to become MCYC Community Services Society with the Methodist Welfare Services (MWS). MCYC Community Services separated itself from MWS in June 2008 and became an independent charity organisation. It changed its name to Epworth Community Services on 21 June 2018. The church also has Mandarin, Indonesian and Filipino congregations. The three services celebrated their 21st, 24th and 40th anniversaries in 2023 respectively.

Notable Events

The Church organised and hosted several events that were relevant to the members of the public at large, and received coverage from the press. These include a forum on "Educational problems facing families in Singapore", a forum on "Family Life Problems" and a forum on "Approaches to Drug Problems". The Church also played host to the

during the Brigade's Thanksgiving Services. The International Prayer Conference for Wesleyans in Renewal IIPCWR), was held at ACS Barker Road from 16 -19 June 2004. The 2018 edition of GoForth National Missions Conference was held on the ACS Barker Road campus and supported by the Church. On 22 July 2022, alumni, staff and students of ACJC, ACS (Barker) and ACS (Independent) organised “A Homecomng to God” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ACS Clocktower Revival.

References

External links

Official website of Barker Road Methodist Church

Official website of the Methodist Church in Singapore
{{Churches in Singapore Methodist churches in Singapore Churches in Singapore